Imagine sitting down to take a school exam in the late 19th century — no multiple-choice bubbles to fill in, no standardized test booklets, just long, challenging questions covering a remarkable range of subjects.
In the 1800s, students were expected to master a broad and demanding range of subjects that reflected both practical needs and the values of the time. School exams often included detailed questions on arithmetic, grammar, geography, U.S. history, and civics, requiring students to memorize facts, define complex terms, have strong comprehension skills, and explain concepts in full written responses rather than selecting answers from a list.
An article from History Facts invites readers to imagine taking a school exam in the late 19th century, long before modern multiple-choice tests or standardized curricula, when exams were lengthy, challenging, and covered a vast array of subjects.
The New Common School Questions Book — compiled by Wisconsin superintendent Asa H. Craig — provides a window into what education looked like at the time. First published in 1899, with earlier editions dating back to the 1870s, the book was a central resource for teacher-exam candidates, classroom teachers crafting tests, and public school students (typically in grades 1-8) preparing for those exams.
Sample questions range from identifying which states border Canada to defining grammatical terms like “impersonal verb” and diagramming sentences to explaining scientific principles such as the earth’s motion and solving complex mathematical problems involving mixtures and percentages. What stands out about these questions is not just their scope but their expectation of precision. Geography and history demanded factual recall; arithmetic and grammar required not just answers but mastery of methods; science and physiology blended memorized knowledge with interpretive understanding.
Could you pass a school exam from the 1800s? Read below for some softball sample questions to find out!
Q. Which of the states border on Canada?
A. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington
Q. How great is the earth’s annual motion?
A. About 68,000 miles an hour
Q. What is essential in every syllable?
A. A vowel
Q. Which are the five largest islands in the world?
A. Australia, Greenland, Borneo, New Guinea, and Madagascar
Q. What do the words per cent mean?
A. By the hundred
Q. What nations explored the country now known as the United States?
A. The Spaniards, English, French, and Dutch
Q. What is the meaning of “sargasso”?
A. It is a Spanish name, meaning grassy
Q. What part of North America is in the same latitude as England and Ireland?
A. The southern part of Canada
Q. Define a fibre.
A. It is a thread of exceeding fineness, and may be round or flattened
Q. Describe the stomach.
A. It is an oval sac, situated below the diaphragm on the same plane with the liver, and lies mostly on the left side of the spine. It has two openings: an upper, or cardiac orifice, where the oesophagus enters, and a lower, or pyloric orifice, which enters into the duodenum. It is imposed of three coats: an outer, or serous coat, which is the same as that which lines the whole abdomen; a middle, or muscular coat, composed of two laters of fibres, longitudinal and circular, the contraction of which moves the food about the stomach during digestion; and an inner or mucous coat, containing the gastric tubules, which secrete the gastric juice.
Q. Who said, “I would rather be right than President” and why did he say it?
A. It was an expression of Henry Clay when his friends insisted that to advocate the compromise would lessen his chances for the Presidency. This step demanded great moral courage, as it required a partial surrender of his cherished theories of protection and an open breach with many political friends.
Q. What is the area of a circle whose diameter is 1 foot 1 inch?
A. 132.73 square inches
Q. What became of [John Wilkes] Booth’s accomplices?
A. Harold, Payne, Atzerodt, and Mrs. Surratt were hanged; Arnold, Mudd and O’Laughlin were imprisoned for life, and Spangler was sentenced for six years.
Q. What is an impersonal verb?
A. A verb having person and number without a subject; as, methinks, meseems.
Q. When are two terms in apposition, and when is one predicated by the other? In what must these terms agree?
A. When a verb joins the terms, one is predicated of the other; as, “He is president.” When no verb joins them, the latter term is in apposition with the former; as, “Webster, the orator.” These terms must agree in case.
Q. The time since noon is 7/17 of the time to 4 o’clock p.m.; what is the time?
A. 10 minutes past 1 o’clock p.m.
Q. What law is impressed on all animal beings?
A. The law of continual change.
Q. If 3 gallons of brandy, at $3 a gallon, and 5 quarts of alcohol, at 40 cents a gallon, be mixed with 1/2 gallon of water, for what must the mixture be sold a gallon to gain 37 per cent?
A. $2.74
Q. A man being asked how many geese he had, replied: If I had 1/2 as many as I now have, and 2 1/2 geese more, I should have 100; how many had he?
A. 65
Q. The difference of two numbers is 53 and the difference of their squares is 10,759; what are the numbers?
A. 75 and 128
Q. What per cent will be gained by buying apples at the rate of 3 for 1 cent, and selling them at 3 cents each?
A. 800 per cent
Q. What are the wastes of Patagonia?
A. Sterile tracts covered with sand and gravel.
Q. By what two great commercial routes can we travel around the world, starting from New York?
A. We can cross the Atlantic; enter the Mediterranean Sea; pass through the Suez Canal; sail down the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean; skirt the southern points of Asia to Canton; thence cross the Pacific to San Francisco; and thence cross the continent by rail to New York.
Or, we can sail southwest until nearly opposite Rio Janeiro; cross the Atlantic; round the Cape of Good Hope; sail through the Indian Ocean to the East Indies, and thence up the China Sea to Canton; cross the Pacific to San Francisco; sail thence to Panama and cross the Isthmus by rail; and sail thence along north through the West Indies, to New York.
Q. Where is Yellowstone Park?
A. In the northwest corner of Wyoming. It contains 3,600 square miles. It contains many deep canyons, lofty falls, bathing pools, geysers, lakes, and other natural beauties and wonders. It has been set aside by Congress as a “perpetual reservation for the benefit and instruction of mankind.”
Q. A boy [was] hired to a mechanic for 20 weeks on condition that he should receive $20 and a coat. At the end of 12 weeks the boy quit work, when it was found that he was entitled to $9 and a coat; what was the value of the coat?
A. $7.50.
Q. Who were appointed to draw up a declaration of rights?
A. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston
Q. What daring exploit was undertaken by Washington near the close of the year 1776?
A. He crossed the Delaware River on the night of December 25, proceeded to Trenton, and in the early morning captured one thousand Hessians and a large quantity of arms with the loss of only four men, two killed and two frozen to death.
Q. What was the effect of this feat?
A. It was considered a great military exploit of the Revolution. Its effect was electrical. It revived the drooping spirits of army and people. Recruits flocked to the American standard, and the troops whose terms of enlistment had expired, agreed to remain. Such brilliant achievements of Washington astonished the British commander, and Cornwallis, who was about to return to England under the impression that the rebellion had been subdued, was ordered to remain and prepare for a winter’s campaign.
Q. Why did Washington choose Christmas night to attack the Hessians?
A. Knowing that the Germans regarded this day as one of great festivity, he believed they would not expect an attack, and in the midst of their carousals could be surprised and routed.
